Influenza A or H1N1 cases surge in India, claims 9 lives in January, reveals govt data

At least 9 people died due to seasonal influenza A (H1N1) in India in January alone, showed the data released by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

Deaths from H1N1 commonly known as swine flu have been reported from Haryana (2), Kerala (2), Maharashtra (2), Punjab (2) and Tamil Nadu (1) in January with 451 cases excluding data from West Bengal.  

While there is a hue and cry over the H3N2 variant that has claimed 2 lives one each in Karnataka and Haryana, several other respiratory diseases including a considerable number of swine flu cases are being reported from across the country, which was behind the flu pandemic in India in 2009.

Meanwhile, the union health ministry said that till 28th February, a total of 955 H1N1 cases have been reported, the majority from Tamil Nadu (545), Maharashtra (170), Gujarat (74), Kerala (42) and Punjab (28).

Perturbed over various respiratory illnesses increasing in India, Rajesh Bhushan, secretary, union health ministry on Saturday wrote a letter to states mentioning that while Influenza is an annual seasonal occurrence, in the present season, a variety of weather conditions and behavioural reasons (like less than adequate attention to personal hygiene, sneezing and coughing without adequate protection in close proximity of other people, closed indoor gatherings of people, etc.) make the environment conducive to circulation of a number of viral respiratory pathogens like Influenza A (HIN1, H3N2 etc.) and adenoviruses, etc.

The health secretary also said that while the covid-19 trajectory has decreased substantially in the last few months, the gradual rise in covid-19 test positivity rates in some States is a concerning issue that needs to be promptly addressed. 

“Additionally, since 1% January, 2023, as per testing of respiratory samples being undertaken by various Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) virus research and diagnostic laboratories (VRDL) network labs, almost 25.4% of the samples have tested positive for Adenoviruses,” said Bhushan.

The government said that near real-time surveillance of cases of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) presenting in OPDs and IPDs of health facilities is undertaken by Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) and NCDC.

According to the latest data available on the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme -integrated health Information Platform (IDSP-IHIP), a total of 3038 laboratory-confirmed cases of various subtypes of Influenza including H1N1 and H3N2 have been reported till 9th March 2023 by the States. This includes 1245 cases in January, 1307 in February and 486 cases in March (till 9th March).

“Under IDSP, as reported by States/UTs, an increasing trend of ILI/SARI is being observed across the country. Further, as per integrated sentinel based surveillance of ILI and SARI, an upswing of Influenza A is observed since latter half of December, 2022. Of particular concern is preponderance of Influenza A (H3N2) being detected in the samples being analysed in various labs. It should also be keptin mind that young children, old age people and people suffering from co-morbidites are particularly at risk and vulnerable to HIN1, H3N2, Adenoviruses, etc,” said Bhushan.

“While most of these agents typically cause a similar mild and often self-limiting illness manifesting acute respiratory infection with fever and cough, in some cases, particularly old age people, people with obesity and other co-morbidities (like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic renal and liver disease etc.), as well as pregnant females may suffer from a more severe manifestation of these diseases requiring hospitalization,” said Bhushan.

Further, the IDSP-IHIP data from health facilities indicate that during the month of January 2023, a total of 397,814 cases of Acute Respiratory Illness/Influenza Like Illness (ARI/ILI) were reported from the country which increased slightly to 436,523 during February 2023. In the first 9 days of March 2023, this number stands at 133,412 cases.

The corresponding data for admitted cases of severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) is 7041 cases in January 2023, 6919 during February 2023 and 1866 during the first 9 days of March 2023.